Jonathan Blue

I have an amazing recipe for chipotle that you can use during the pureed food stage. Hit me up if you are interested. I also have other pureed recipes on my blog like an alfredo sauce. Check it out if you are interested!

Quit this habit as soon as you can. In general, the more "Bad Habits" you can break before surgery the better. Your husband is correct that the pain meds will help, but the sooner you ween off of the need for caffeine the better. To begin this process just start by switching to the caffeine free versions of the things you love and then eventually find total alternatives. To deal with the withdawl headaches is a pain. To some degree it is just part of the process and one to immerse yourself in. To help you deal with the headaches, start with taking Alieve for the first week as needed or Advil Migraine. These medications have a small amount of caffeine added. After that first week then switch to Tylenol as needed for headaches. I know this sucks but it will definitely get better. Another reason to kick the habit for good is that caffeine leads to dehydration. With dehydration always being a concern post surgery, it is best to just avoid the stuff. You don't want to wind up in the hospital needing an IV because you weren't able to intake enough fluids or those that you took in had the caffeine and dehydrated you. A little caffeine eventually is probably more than acceptable. It is honestly just a better safe than sorry scenario. If you have any other questions or need anything at all, please let me know. You can contact me through the links below my name.

A lot of the weight will be from the IV fluids like others have said above, but also realize your body has gone through a traumatic experience and it will take up to a few weeks for all of the swelling to go down as well. This will also lead to a slight weight gain. Give it time and the weight will begin falling off. Though I lost a few pounds after surgery, the weight didn't start to pour off until after I went back to work six weeks later. Keep up the hard work. Things will even out before you know it. !

I am definitely thankful for @@SuzeMuze who has generously given of her time and information to everyone on this site. She has also begun working on my blog as a guest blogger to begin talking about women's issues in weight loss and bariatric surgery. I am so thankful for her help and willingness to be open and honest about her experiences.

Here is a video chronicling my journey so far. It is a little long, but it tells the story and my feeling heading into surgery well. I urge all of you reading to check it out and provide feedback. I want this to be the best it can be so it can be a help and motivation to others trying to change their lives. (I know there are a few grammatical errors in the video that I am working on correcting) https://www.youtube....h?v=rkW6KmJRgHc To learn more about my journey, find motivation, and experience life together, follow me on Facebook and Twitter below. This is truly and amazing journey and I am always open to help anyone as they work through this life changing experience! @Fat2FitBlue Blog: http://wakingupfromh...s.blogspot.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook...ealjonathanblue Best of Luck, Jonathan

You could try pureed Chipotle! puree some white Beans and carrots with a little bit of chicken stock, chili powder, cumin, and other Mexican seasonings as you feel you would like. Don't forget to salt and pepper to taste. Then put that in a container and layer mashed/ slightly pureed avocado and fat free sour creme. This tastes very similar to Chipotle. If you are looking for the textures of the rice and beans this won't help, but if you just want the taste sensation, then this will get you close. I have more if you are interested. Just let me know. You can contact me at the links below for more.

I need some help from my surgical pals! We need to represent and support each other. Please help me out below. They just posted an article on the FitBit website about my journey. I am trying to get as many people as I can to comment on the article. Right now the story with the most comments only has 40 and it been a year. I want to set the lofty goal of having 100 comments in two weeks. Would you be able to help me out with this? Please share it around and get as many people involved as you can! http://blog.fitbit.com/fitbit-success-stories-jonathan-b/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=success%20stories%20jonathan%20b

Awesome!! You rock!

I would avoid the eggs for awhile while your stomach is still healing. They don't seem to be going down too well. One thing to help with the liquids is to drink warm liquids like decaf tea with lemon, or broth. The warmth will help sooth the stomach and keep it from seizing up causing the vomiting. If you have any other questions be sure to let me know. I will do what I can for you. You can contact me through any of the links below.

Have you been drinking milk post surgery? I know I had the same issue and it was because I was mixing milk in my Protein shakes and I had become slightly lactose intolerant. This is a common occurrence among bypass patients. Anytime I would eat anything all day I felt that way when I was drinking milk. I switched to almond milk and after a day or two everything went away. Over time I was able to add milk back into my diet, but I just needed to give my stomach a break for a few months. If you try that and it doesn't get any better or if the pain worsens, I would call your surgeon to make sure he wouldn't want to see you again. They are their to answer questions so use them. I hope this helps a little bit. If you have any additional questions or if there is anything else I can do, please let me know. My contact information is below.

At 9 months post op, you should be able to eat corn without any issue. The only thing I would caution you on is to take it slow at first. As with adding any new food, try a little bit at a time until you know how your body will react to it, then go from there.

I would recommend Simethicone chewables. They are an over the counter medication. The name is the generic brand. Just ask the Pharmacist. That is what I used post surgery. The gas pain is just the gas they used to inflate your stomach during surgery working its way out. It usually takes a week or two to subside. I know it sucks. The other thing to do is to try moving around. Get up and walk. I know it is very uncomfortable, but the more you move, the more it works its way out of your system. Don't worry. The worst is almost over. Soon you will be on your way to doing amazing things that you never thought were possible. Keep strong. If there is anything else you need or any questions, please let me know. You can contact me at one of the links below.

Mountain biking the Colorado Trail is on my to do list in the next few years. I think it would also be awesome to hike out there too!

I love this video! I think it is spot on. Not much I could say differently about it.

Many companies make a flavorless Protein powder. This would be something to stir a little into what you are eating. I would not necessarily stir a whole scoop, but a teaspoon or two would not change the taste too drastically. That way you are sneaking in more protein without even realizing it. I know unjury makes a flavorless powder. I am sure there are plenty of other brands that do as well.

I think you can achieve this with not problem. My rapid weight loss didn't even start until about week 7. Everyone is different. The biggest factor in how rapidly the weight will come off for you at this point will be activity level. The more active you work to become, the faster it will come off. I am not saying running marathons or anything, just even getting out and walking, or swimming. Moving around for about an hour a day should be your first goal, take baby steps and work your way up to it if you cannot do it right away.

Though medications could be an issue, you are definitely not eating enough calories. Your body is shutting down because it doesn't even have enough energy to get through the day. I would try upping it to 800 to 1000 calories. Still eating the 6 small meals throughout the day. Also, how much Protein are you getting in a day? Increasing the amount of protein can also help. There is a delicate balance between the number of calories you eat in a day and the number of calories you work off. I suggest religiously tracking both using a FitBit or other activity and calorie tracking device. After a few weeks you will discover what your sweet spot is. You definitely want to burn more calories than you take in, but you also don't want to not not have the energy to make it through the day which is what is happen in your case more than likely. The other thing is that when your calorie count is so low, your body will think it is in starvation mode and actually start storing fat instead of using it. I went through a period of 3 months where I lost nothing because I was working out really heavily and not adjusting my calories up just a little to make up for it. If you have any additional question or I can help in any way, please let me know.

This is the second post in my series on how I prepared for weight loss surgery. The first post covered how I prepared my body for the surgery and offered a few tips to those who may not be able to follow the same course of action that I took. This post will deal specifically with how I mentally prepared for surgery and all the changes I was going to need to make to be sure I was successful. A lot of other bariatric surgery patients I have spoken with have all said they had an "Aha" moment. No such moment came for me. There was no parting of the clouds. There was no light from heaven. There definitely was no life altering "Aha" moment. My change was gradual. My determination grew gradually, but to tell you where it started, I could not say for sure. In looking back, the process to begin mentally preparing for surgery started long before I had even contemplated the surgery. The process began, in fact many years before when I was younger and getting made fun of for being a big boy. I can still remember very vividly some children calling me fat on the playground at school. I can remember tearfully running and hiding under a car and not going in when the teacher called everyone in from recess. I can also remember the teacher finding me a getting in trouble. I wasn't even that overweight at that age, I was just taller than all the kids in my class. I can remember countless incidents through the years of being made fun of. I addition to this I can remember the feeling of sitting in a chair at a party and having the chair break because it couldn't hold me. I remember the feeling of shame and embarrassment as everyone laughed at me while I died just a little bit inside; trying to put on a brave face and laugh it off myself. I can also very clearly remember and incident where my mentally ill father told me he wished I wasn't his son and that I had never been born. He then went on to call me fat and useless. You see, my catalyst to change came about when I finally stopped listening to those people and I started hating putting on the brave face. It came when I stopped listening to the people around me, the voices in my head, the haters, the non-believers, the dream killers, the bullies, and I told them all to shut up! My journey began when I got fed up with the status quo and refused to accept a normal life; when I realized my life could be amazing and it wasn't. This frustration and anger led me to look for an option that would work and I began exploring the surgical option. It was an option that many people, doctors, friends, family, and even coworkers had recommended that I should look into. Up until then I just hadn't reached that point of frustration mentioned above. The next step in mentally preparing for this journey was knowledge. The next area of mental preparation since we have spent time remember all the bad things your weight has caused will be to think of all the good that will come from the weight not being there. I started to dream and I dreamed big! I created a list from the simple to the insane of all the things I wanted to do that my weight had held me back from. I wanted to do something as simple as walk down a flight of stairs like a normal person instead of tentatively one at a time. I was always worried I would get hurt or a stair would break. When I accomplished this goal for the first time I sat at the bottom of the stairs and cried for like 10 minutes I was so happy. I dreamed about the day I could try scuba diving. I thought about how amazing it would be to run, or ride a bike, or climb a mountain. Side note: I haven't climbed any mountains yet, but I will. I dreamed about running my first 5k and finishing my first triathlon. I thought about how it must feel to work so hard and to finally cross that finish line. I thought about all of these things up to what it would be like to compete and finish an Ironman race. What it must feel like to be running across the finish line as an announcer yelled, "Jonathan Blue, you are and Ironman!" I get chills even as I type this. I spent hours watching past years Ironman races on YouTube at home or on my lunch breaks at work. I wanted all of these things so bad I could taste them. I began to obsess about them. At this stage in the game that is a great thing because then you don't obsess so much about food. As things got tough and I felt like giving up or giving in I would go back to the list of things I wanted. I would sit back a watch an Ironman race and I would do everything possible to rekindle the spark. Dreaming about the amazing things I would soon be doing really helped when things got rough and kept me motivating as I prepared for my impeding surgery. When it comes to the surgical options and everything surrounding the process of pre and post op care, knowledge is power. If that was true I wanted to be as powerful as possible. I studied and researched for weeks and weeks. I learned everything I could about the pre-op plan and the how's and why's of everything. I took the time to study all three surgeries to learn which would be the best for me and why so when I spoke with the doctor I already had a plan in place. I went so far as to go on YouTube and watch all three surgeries. I memorized the post op care plan and began testing recipes that I would need to know. I spent time scouring over forums and blogs soaking up every piece of information I could. There wasn't much I didn't know prior to them wheeling me into the operating room. I was fortunate in that I worked for the hospital I was having the procedure done, so I knew the nurses and staff I was interacting with. All of this information allowed me to accept the aspects of this process that scared me or seemed daunting and those were the areas I spent more time learning about. The more I knew the more comfortable I became. There wasn't much of anything that surprised me with the whole process. There were even points I was asking nurses if a certain procedure was supposed to be next or a specific test and they wouldn't know, but upon check found out that it was next to be scheduled. I knew it all! This allowed a level of comfort, peace, and understanding unlike anything I have ever experienced. The last major area where I needed to mentally prepare for the surgery was in learning to let go of food. This was probably one of the hardest things I had to do pre surgery. Goodbyes are never easy. Saying goodbye to an addiction is even harder. The silver lining is that once I had surgery, most of my cravings and desires for foods went away for a very long time. That made things a lot easier. So how did I say goodbye to food you might ask? How else... Eating. You might be thinking I am crazy right now, but what I did was create a food bucket list. This was all of the foods I thought I would miss the most or hadn't tried and really wanted too. The list included some of my favorite fast food restaurants, a nice steakhouse, and many many sweet treats. My surgery was the beginning of November and I knew I would be sitting Thanksgiving out. It's one of my favorite holidays so I was pretty bummed. On my bucket list was Thanksgiving. My entire family was absolutely amazing by getting together a month early and celebrating with me: Turkey, mashed potatoes, and all! Each and every time I had that meal I treated it like it was my last. I took my time. I ordered whatever I wanted. I savored every bites, trying to imprint every taste and texture in my mind. I even cried a little at times. I let myself experience the full range of emotions. I was grieving and you need to let yourself grieve. Now here is where I need to make a small note. I was not eating a bucket list meal for every meal. I had one of these meals two to three times a week after I got past my initial qualification stage. I allowed myself these meals with the promise that all other meals would be on point and that I would stay as active as I possibly could be, especially on bucket days. This made me feel better about having these meals and also helped me to maintain the weight loss I had worked so hard for up until that point. Everything I did above did wonders in prepare me for the actually surgery but it also helped me to survive "Hell Week". This is the one week prior to surgery when you are on a liquid diet to let your stomach empty out and make it easier to work with. There is no cheating on this week or you could seriously hurt yourself. I don't want to sugar coat this for you. You need to understand going in that it will be the most trying week of your life. You will be angry, you will snap at people, and you will generally be a very unpleasant person to be around. The entire week you need to just keep your mind busy and keep telling yourself that its only a week. I kept a countdown on my phone to show me how long I had to hold on. At the end of this hell is surgery. One last big push to the promised land! So when it comes to preparing your mind for surgery keep in mind that you need to constantly keep a reminder in your head about why you are doing this. You need to be dreaming about all the things you are going to be able to do because of the surgery. Keep in mind the knowledge is power so get as powerful as you can. Finally, you need to let go of food and prepare for hell. This will culminate in a surgery that will absolutely change your life. It will start you on an amazing journey of discovery and adventure as you explore your new body and find out exactly what it is capable of. If you have any questions about my process please post them in the comments below and I will try to answer each one as I get them.